


memento

by onceandforall



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Dealing with Memory Loss, Gen, Link centric, Vignette, free writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25565233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceandforall/pseuds/onceandforall
Summary: Hero. Hero. Hero. Hero. hero. Hero. hero. H ero. h e ro. Hero. he roh e r o
Kudos: 20





	memento

**Author's Note:**

> i love link

Link often wonders if it was better if he remembered his past. If the 100 years in the Shrine of Resurrection didn’t wipe away his memories, leave him a blank, clean slate. A tabula rasa to be filled with ideas and goals. Would it be better if he remembered what his friends looked like? If he remembered how the first Champions acted? 

Link can feel the memories in his head, feel the space that they once took and the emotions they once had with them. But it’s all discombobulated, the wiring not making sense. It’s worse when he talks to someone who actually knew him before, knew how he acted and what he was like. Impa speaks to him as if he knows things; the Champions’ spirits are filled with admiration, almost a familial love, for him. 

Link feels nothing. He knows nothing. He knows he should feel something, and the emotions gurgle up into his consciousness, but never come up close to enough to grab. They always stay just out of reach and leave him longing. 

He often thinks that it would be the best of all if he didn’t remember and he didn’t know he did not remember. The weight of memories and his past life not only forgotten, but totally gone. 

But life isn’t like that, so Link must go through each day knowing that there are pieces of himself missing. The pictures on the Sheikah Slate help, if only to give him an idea of what he should know. Seeing the places in person helps even more, fills in memories that vaguely lead up to the start of destruction. 

Yet there is still an absence. It fills him up when he’s standing on top of a mountain, the wind whispering through the tall blades of grass. The rolling hills pity him, and he feels their pity deep inside his chest. It fills him up when he bends down and sees a blue flower, a Silent Princess, soaking up the sun. The absence fills him up when he sees a stable, loud and warm with the sounds of people, and yet decides to spend the night next to his own campfire. The shadows of the flames jump around until they exhaust themselves and Link goes to bed with an ache in his core and the smell of burning wood in his lungs. 

It’s better during the day time, when he has a Sheikah Slate full of opportunities and ideas to keep him going. Link stumbls upon a small port village, with people bustyling to and fro as they use the early morning start to organize things for the entire day. There’s a Hylian patrolling the beach, and Link knows that if he doesn’t get something to do soon, the buzz of his past life is going to start crawling under his skin again, making it impossible to tune it out. 

The Hylian complains about losing fishing spots to monsters, and how he is worried that they’re going to lose everything to the monsters. Link assures him that he has no problem with helping them out. The infested beach isn’t even that far. 

Link sneaks in, takes out the archers before any of the other monsters even know that he is there. He assesses the rest of the situation, but the thoughts aren’t coming to him. All he can focus on is how empty he feels. His stomach feels as if it is sinking into the sand, sinking into the very core of the planet. 

Link stops thinking and he rushes in. 

It’s a bad idea to rush in. He’s outnumbered, outweighed, outmatched. But fighting is the only thing that keeps his brain clear. He swings his sword hard, watches as the monster dissolves into nothing but a pile of horns and guts, and is finally able to take in a decent breath of air. Link waits for another monster to strike, shield at the ready, before dodging and letting out enough hits that the monster hits the ground with a strangled yelp. 

The monsters keep coming. One hits Link in the middle of his back and he almost teeters completely into the ocean as he tries to regain his balance. One slices up his arm, taking away the fabric of his shirt with it. His shield breaks and he runs dangerously close out of arrows. 

The fight is finally over when Link can feel himself on the edge of passing out. He has a bleeding cut right above his eyebrow, and the blood seeps down his face. Link sticks his tongue out to taste the blood, and winces at the metallic ring it has to it. He wipes his face down as best as he can, eats a few things to make the dizziness go away, and loots the monster base. 

Link makes his way back to the village with the good news. The Hylian gives him a Silver Rupee for his troubles. He spends some it getting first aid at the Inn, the lady that owns the place fussing over him all the while. He spends some of it buying fish at the market, and then roasts the fish over an open flame. He prays at the Goddess Statue and her words ring in Link’s ears and fill him with a sense of rigor. 

He fills the rest of the day with other helpful tasks. A woman needs ingredients for dinner, some kid wants to show him a secret beach. The moon is in the sky before he even realizes it. The lady from the Inn doesn’t give him a choice, just drags him by the arm and gives him a bed. 

After a bath and the last few bites of the roasted fish from earlier, Link sleeps. 

He doesn’t sleep well. When he wakes, he remembers only fragments of his dream. There was the castle, and the princess, and a protective urge to do anything for her. For not the first time, Link wonders if he’s going to feel all the same things he once felt. When he finally goes to the castle, is Link going to remember the princess? 

The princess will surely remember him. The day starts and Link pulls himself out of bed. Some days are better than others. Today is one of those days. The emptiness in his brain is just that: empty, and ready to be filled with more memories. It’s not a weight dragging him down. It’s the freedom to do what he pleases. He has shrines to find, people to help, a kingdom to save. 

He starts the day and he allows one thought to creep into his mind: Link hopes he remembers the princess. Out of everything, she is the only thing that he truly wishes he never forgot. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me at [twt](https://twitter.com/JINClTY) and [tumblr](https://onceand-forall.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
